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Top 15 Tips for Expats to Save for Retirement

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Speak to a Financial Adviser About Your Best Retirement Options

Top Retirement Tips for Expats

  1. Contact a Financial Adviser – contact an expat financial adviser in your country of residence. They are not only expat financial planners, but understand some of the difficulties of living abroad as an expat. They will be able to help you in many areas.
  2. Deal with Your Debt Immediately – credit cards often charge huge amounts on your debt. It is best to pay these debts off whilst you are still working. You can also set up a direct debit to automatically pay off your credit cards.
  3. Save Earlier in Life – Start your monthly savings plan earlier in life. At 30 years old, you only need to save $1,080 per month to reach a $1m retirement pot. At 50 years old, you need $6,354 for the same pension pot. Click to see how much you need to save in retirement for a $1m pension pot.
  4. Maximise Your Contributions – there are often loyalty bonuses for maximising contributions to expat retirement plans.
  5. Plan an Expat Health Insurance Strategy – in a lot of countries abroad, there is no free health service. Find out before you move what the situation is.
  6. Countries with Universal Health Insurance – What EU countries have free healthcare? Countries with universal healthcare include Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Isle of Man, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. The UK also provides free healthcare with the National Health Service (NHS). All persons resident in Ireland are entitled to receive health care through the public health care system, which is managed by the Health Service Executive and funded by general taxation and subsidised fees for service. All maternity services and child care up to the age of six years are provided free of charge. As of 2021, Brazil is the only country where any individual within Brazilian jurisdiction is eligible to receive instant, free and complete healthcare with no previous application, which covers all treatments, surgeries and medications at any condition, whether resident or non-resident, regardless of ethnicity, nationality, or visa, including tourists, passengers in transit, and refugees. Click to find out more about universal healthcare in your country of residence.
  7. Find Out About Visas – Retirement visas vary by country and you may need a cash lump sum placed in a local bank account or a minimum level of monthly income. Find out before you move.
  8. Transfer You Pension Scheme Abroad – If you are moving from the UK to Europe, you may want your pension to be in euros rather than pounds, so curency fluctuations don’t affect your monthly income. If you are moving to Asia, Africa or South America, you may want your pension to be held in US dollars. Contact a qrops specialist for more.
  9. Set Up a Local Bank Account – This is the best option rather than constantly having to pay ATM and foreign exchange fees. Check the requirements you may need before moving abroad.
  10. Set Up and Offshore Investment Wrapper – you can invest in stocks and shares via an insurance wrapper. You can name the beneficiaries upon death when it is being set up. You can also choose the currency of the expat pension scheme and invest with professional fund managers.
  11. Set Up an Educational Trust – you can also set up investment wrappers for your children or grand children and place it in trust. Contact a financial adviser for more.
  12. Understand Your Retirement Income Options – Understand that at retirement age, whether that is 65 or much older, you will usually need to change your retirement strategy to plan for safety . Contact a financial adviser to find out more.
  13. Practice Retirement Savings Now – You should be spending at least 20% less a month in retirement. If you are younger, you can place this extra cash into savings to receive more money at retirement. Covid has helped many people to spend less and go out less. This money can be used for expat retirement savings.
  14. Find Out Your Risk Tolerance – a good adviser would be able to help you find out a risk score for your tolerance to risk. This should help you become more comfortable with your pension plan set up.
  15. Automate Your Savings – there are several apps to automate savings by rounding up your spending on purchases such as your supermarket spending.

You can read more here, How to Set Up an Expat Retirement Plan.